Islands are often refuges — places of sanctuary that are at least partly disconnected from the mainstream. By definition, they are off the beaten track and so can retain features that are characteristic of life gone by, when people lived more slowly, land was farmed less intensively and wildlife could flourish.

For me, and potentially for at least 150,000 others who live nearby, the unique beauty of Amherst Island near Kingston makes it an extremely valuable local refuge. That beauty is now threatened by a plan to develop a wind farm of 36 turbines (each on a pole 100 metres high) that would cover most of the island. In my view, wind energy is the right thing to do, but Amherst Island would be a terribly wrong place to do it.

Amherst Island’s beauty is borne out of its distinctive landscape, people, wildlife and history. The landscape seems so natural, with fields that are lightly grazed by cattle and sheep, and significant pockets of mature woodland. Agriculture is practised in relatively traditional ways here — even sometimes using horses. Many of the farmhouses are old-fashioned, having been slowly added to over multiple generations. The island has a particularly high wildlife value, including internationally famous owl winter-roosting areas. Overall, more than 30 species of mainly birds and reptiles that are officially classified as at risk in many parts of Ontario seem to be doing very well on Amherst Island. From the roadside over the years, I’ve seen just some of this diversity, but most of all I’ve enjoyed the quiet solitude that the place provides — a place of calmness, a place of rest, a place to reconnect with what really matters.

Amherst Island residents are proud of their long history and even maintain a fine museum on the island. Many homes display primitive farm machinery at their entrances, and the surnames posted outside allow you to make the numerous links between family generations that have spread out across the island. Drivers put “A.I.” stickers on their car rear bumpers. This community of just 400 people has its own radio station. As I walk along its mainly unpaved roads, residents often wave as they drive by — even though they do not know me. It’s a different world out there — they know it, and they’re proud of it. My point here is that this distinctiveness adds to the beauty of the place.

The wind farm proposal is currently under review by Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, and public comments are invited at www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MTIxMzE0&statusId=MTgxNTk5&language=en until March 8. A similar wind farm was established on the adjacent Wolfe Island in 2009, and as in that case, the numerous banners and posters around Amherst Island indicate that the residents are strongly split into pro- and anti-wind energy groups. Clearly there would be economic benefits in terms of land-leasing contracts, local jobs and municipal revenue. Furthermore, in principal, wind energy developments are a very good way of meeting our society’s growing energy needs, especially given the pollution and climate warming associated with fossil fuel-derived energy. However, very few Wolfe Islanders would argue that the enormous size of the turbines and the extensive roadway infrastructure underneath have not radically altered the landscape.

Several local groups have eloquently put the case that a wind farm on Amherst Island threatens its ecological integrity, especially for the resident bird species as well as the many others who migrate annually across this area of Lake Ontario’s north shore. The necessary road -ccess infrastructure may also disrupt animal movements and result in habitat loss for those organisms dependent on the current water drainage patterns across the island. But my main concern is broader, and also more selfish — a wind farm development will disfigure the island’s beauty. This is not a “not in my backyard” argument because Amherst Island is not an average place. To me at least, its distinctive features — the landscape, the plants and wildlife, the tranquil friendly pace of life, and the strong sense of history — make it one of the most beautiful locations along the whole north shore of Lake Ontario. I want to continue to enjoy it, and I want my children to be able to return and see and experience it as it was when we used to take our family hikes together there. We should be conserving this very special place and developing wind farms in alternative locations of lower esthetic value, such as offshore or in landscape types that are not so rare. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If there are any other beholders out there with whom this perspective resonates, you’d better speak up soon or forever hold your peace.

Paul Grogan is a plant and ecosystem ecologist with the Department of Biology at Queen’s University.